Polymorphism of the GPX-5 gene and characteristics of boar semen

Abstract

Two polymorphisms at intron 1 of the glutathione peroxidase 5 (GPX-5) gene, namely A>G substitution (1B and 2B alleles) and deletion/insertion (1C and 2C alleles), were studied in a group of 140 AI boars. Alleles 2B and 1C were the most frequent ones-0.72 and 0.93, respectively. Only two genotypes for each polymorphic site could be analysed with regard to three characteristics of semen: Volume, sperm concentration and total sperm number in the ejaculate. Altogether, data on 13172 ejaculates were used in this study. It was found that 1B2B genotype was related to higher sperm concentration, while other traits demonstrated variable relationships with the genotypes, depending on the analysed breed. It may suggest that the GPX-5 gene is linked to an unknown QTL controlling sperm production.